Nude in Bathtub 1946

Pierre Bonnard’s painting, Nude in Bathtub, is a generous expanse of color, form, and light. Just imagine Bonnard in the studio, moving paint across the canvas, building up layer upon layer, adjusting the colors and forms, and intuitively arriving at the final composition. He must have been fascinated by the play of light on surfaces, and he really went for it in the tessellated tiling of the bathroom. Look at the many little brushstrokes. The paint isn't too thick, but it’s definitely present. It builds a shimmering surface, that merges the bather and the bath into one field. That body dissolves, and the whole scene becomes less about representing something real, and more about the feeling of being in a warm, colorful, watery space. Bonnard, like other painters such as Vuillard and Matisse, really opened up how we experience domestic space. So much is happening here! It’s less a painting of a nude and more a painting *as* a nude. What I mean is: soft, vulnerable, open. Painting *is* feeling.